Farm subsidies going to well off, says Oxfam

BILLIONAIRE Prince Albert of Monaco and wealthy French landowners are getting huge sums in European farm subsidies at the expense of taxpayers, Oxfam claimed yesterday.

From Britain and France to Slovakia and Denmark, the controversial Common Agricultural Policy (CAP), set up nearly 50 years ago to ensure liveable incomes for Europe’s most needy farmers, is handing out hundreds of millions of pounds a year to the most well-off.

With EU foreign ministers due to discuss subsidies in Brussels and trade negotiators from the EU, US, India and Brazil meeting in London, the charity said the “murky world” of CAP was beginning to unravel.